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Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
1944[135]Werner Schröer24 May 1944[136]Walter Wolfrum1 June 1944[137]Kurt Bühligen7 June 1944[138]Heinz Sachsenberg8 June 1944[139]Josef Wurmheller8 June 1944[140]?[Note 3]Siegfried Freytag13 June 1944[142]?[Note 4]Josef Priller15 June 1944[143]Walter Schuck15 June 1944[144]23 August 1944[145]24 March 1945[146]Helmut Lent16 June 1944[147]Kurt TanzerJune 1944[141]Rudolf Trenkel14 July 1944[148]Jakob Norz17 July 1944[149]Franz Woidich20 July 1944[150]Günther Josten20 July 1944[151]17 February 1945[152]Friedrich Obleser21 July 1944[153]?[Note 5]Adolf Borchers24 July 1944[154]Franz Dörr23 August 1944[155]Franz Schall31 August 1944[156]Franz Eisenach14 September 1944[157]Heinz Wernicke14 September 1944[158]Peter Düttmann24 September 1944[159]15 April 1945[160]Gerhard Thyben30 September 1944[161]23 February 1945[162]Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer9 October 1944[132]Hans-Joachim Birkner16 October 1944[163]Eberhard von BoremskiJanuary 1945[132]Walther Dahl28 February 1945[132]Bernhard Vechtel25 March 1945[164]Ulrich Wernitz26 March 1945[165]August LambertApril 1945[132]Heinz Marquardt14 April 1945[166]Adolf Galland21 April 1945[132]The Luftwaffe fighter force defended the airspace of German-occupied territory against attack, first by RAF Bomber Command and then against the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) in the Combined Bomber Offensive. In particular, combating the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers, flying in a combat box, posed a challenge to the Luftwaffe daytime fighter force. In consequence, the destruction of a heavy bomber, or the Herausschuss (separation shot)—a severely damaged heavy bomber forced to separate from its combat box which was counted as an aerial victory—was considered an exceptional achievement.[167] The Luftwaffe introduced a point system in 1943 which accounted for the difficulties in shooting down a heavy bomber. Although a single heavy bomber shot down or damaged still counted as one aerial victory, the accumulated points earned a fighter pilot awards, medals and promotions. The point system worked as follows:[168]Three points were granted for the destruction of heavy bomber.Two points were earned for the Herausschuss of a heavy bomber.One point was awarded for the endgültige Vernichtung (final destruction), a coup de grâce inflicted on an already damaged heavy bomber. This along with the * (asterisk), indicates that the pilot was either killed in action (KIA), missing in action (MIA), died of wounds (DOW) or killed in a flying accident (KIFA). This and the / (slash) indicates information discrepancies listed by Aders, Caldwell, Forsyth, Girbig, Held, Obermaier, Spick, Ring, Mathews, Foreman and Zabecki.^ Mathews and Foreman, who researched the German Federal Archives, state that Sturm
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